Joseph
My mother used to make a dish called "Cuachala" that she described as having its origins in Tamazula de Gordiano, Jal. It is a thick broth made primarily from gallina and masa. I remember a healthy amount of dried chile flakes as well. Although she was originally from Sinaloa and immigrated to San Francisco, CA with my widowed grandmother, she met my father there. After they married and had two daughters, he moved his family back to his hometown of Tamazula. My mother integrated herself to life in that small town. When she returned (after my sister's and my births), she came back to S.F. with many friends there and a mastery of cuachala making. She left the recipe but only my older sister, Carmen, has attempted to make it.
Historical Foods
I've never heard of this dish. Sounds more cosmopolitan than ranchero. Probably is a Spanish/Moorish dish. Joe Rubio
Historical Foods
My grandmother use to make a dish called pollo con naranjas, it was great with chicken, oranges, onion, almonds and the spices were cinamon, cloves, salt pepper and saffron. my mother told that this dish was something that her grandmother also made.
Historical Foods
From the ingredients, this appears to be a spanish dish, meaning from Spain. Where did your mother grow up and where was her grandmother from?
Alicia,
Northern California
________________________________
From: "rmcneal103@msn.com"
To: research@lists.nuestrosranchos.org
Sent: Wednesday, December 19, 2012 4:33 PM
Subject: [Nuestros Ranchos] Historical Foods
My grandmother use to make a dish called pollo con naranjas, it was great with chicken, oranges, onion, almonds and the spices were cinamon, cloves, salt pepper and saffron. my mother told that this dish was something the her grandmother also made.
Historical Foods
My mother grew up in the U.S. her mother's family was from San Juan de los lagos, San Julian and Union de San Antonio all in Jalisco.
Historical Foods
Alicia,
I thought the same thing, that this dish is Spanish, probably the southern part of Spain where Arabs are numerous and they cook a lot with oranges (Valencias?) and almonds. I have read that in some parts of Mexico, people brought Moorish-inspired foods to the New World.
Emilie
Port Orchard, WA
> Date: Thu, 20 Dec 2012 22:13:05 -0800
> From: alliecar@pacbell.net
> To: research@nuestrosranchos.org
> Subject: Re: [Nuestros Ranchos] Historical Foods
>
> From the ingredients, this appears to be a spanish dish, meaning from Spain. Where did your mother grow up and where was her grandmother from?
>
> Alicia,
> Northern California
>
>
>
> ________________________________
> From: "rmcneal103@msn.com"
> To: research@lists.nuestrosranchos.org
> Sent: Wednesday, December 19, 2012 4:33 PM
> Subject: [Nuestros Ranchos] Historical Foods
>
> My grandmother use to make a dish called pollo con naranjas, it was great with chicken, oranges, onion, almonds and the spices were cinamon, cloves, salt pepper and saffron. my mother told that this dish was something the her grandmother also made.
Historical foods
My mother and father met and married in San Francisco, CA. They were both
young people arriving with a parent: my mother with her widowed mother when
she was eight in 1920 and my father with my grandfather in 1925 when my
father was sixteen. After having two daughters my father returned in 1940
with the family to his hometown of Tamazula de Gordiano, Jalisco. I was
born there along with my younger sister. It was there that my mother
learned to make Cuachala. I miss my mother's making of this special dish
(we do have her handwritten recipe somewhere). Cuachala has as its main
ingredients (as I remember), gallina, boiled and shredded (she said never a
pollo, always a hen), masa, chili flakes and the rest I do not remember. It
is served in bowls as a thick broth (like atole). She claimed it was a dish
inigenous to Tamazula and the region. I don't know if that part is a fact.
Any other cuachala aficionados?
Juan Carrillo
Historical foods
Juan,
I never heard of this dish (chicken stew, southern Jalisco style). It sounds good. I looked for a recipe and I found this one:
http://www.mexconnect.com/articles/3857-jalisco-style-chicken-stew-cuac…
I will be making this soon.
Thanks,
Emilie
Port Orchard, WA
> Date: Sun, 23 Dec 2012 14:25:13 -0800
> From: rcafartista@gmail.com
> To: general@nuestrosranchos.org
> Subject: Re: [Nuestros Ranchos] Historical foods
>
> My mother and father met and married in San Francisco, CA. They were both
> young people arriving with a parent: my mother with her widowed mother when
> she was eight in 1920 and my father with my grandfather in 1925 when my
> father was sixteen. After having two daughters my father returned in 1940
> with the family to his hometown of Tamazula de Gordiano, Jalisco. I was
> born there along with my younger sister. It was there that my mother
> learned to make Cuachala. I miss my mother's making of this special dish
> (we do have her handwritten recipe somewhere). Cuachala has as its main
> ingredients (as I remember), gallina, boiled and shredded (she said never a
> pollo, always a hen), masa, chili flakes and the rest I do not remember. It
> is served in bowls as a thick broth (like atole). She claimed it was a dish
> inigenous to Tamazula and the region. I don't know if that part is a fact.
> Any other cuachala aficionados?
> Juan Carrillo
Historical foods
Juan I just noticed you said you grew up in Tamazula.. Did you know any of the Mendez Family, they had a casa de cambio there. I visited them in 2003 but they were very afraid of us since we were strangers.. When I got back home I found out he had been kidnapped for ransom a while before.. his name was Ramon Mendez married to Edeina Torres, they my gr-grandmothers family. What a small world again!
Linda Castanon-Long
________________________________
From: Emilie Garcia
To: general@nuestrosranchos.org
Sent: Sunday, December 23, 2012 6:37 PM
Subject: Re: [Nuestros Ranchos] Historical foods
Juan,
I never heard of this dish (chicken stew, southern Jalisco style). It sounds good. I looked for a recipe and I found this one:
http://www.mexconnect.com/articles/3857-jalisco-style-chicken-stew-cuac…
I will be making this soon.
Thanks,
Emilie
Port Orchard, WA
> Date: Sun, 23 Dec 2012 14:25:13 -0800
> From: rcafartista@gmail.com
> To: general@nuestrosranchos.org
> Subject: Re: [Nuestros Ranchos] Historical foods
>
> My mother and father met and married in San Francisco, CA. They were both
> young people arriving with a parent: my mother with her widowed mother when
> she was eight in 1920 and my father with my grandfather in 1925 when my
> father was sixteen. After having two daughters my father returned in 1940
> with the family to his hometown of Tamazula de Gordiano, Jalisco. I was
> born there along with my younger sister. It was there that my mother
> learned to make Cuachala. I miss my mother's making of this special dish
> (we do have her handwritten recipe somewhere). Cuachala has as its main
> ingredients (as I remember), gallina, boiled and shredded (she said never a
> pollo, always a hen), masa, chili flakes and the rest I do not remember. It
> is served in bowls as a thick broth (like atole). She claimed it was a dish
> inigenous to Tamazula and the region. I don't know if that part is a fact.
> Any other cuachala aficionados?
> Juan Carrillo